Ah Val....I am so sorry. I always feel so inadequate when trying to express how I feel at times like this. Perhaps that's true of most of us because I've been where you are and watched and listened to others struggle in the same way.

I guess it came to me best at the death of my best friend. My nephew said, "Uncle Pat must have a big hole in his heart now." When Connie told me that, it suddenly occurred to me that I really didn't. I missed him right away, just as I missed my parents, but there was no hole in my heart. Great people, be they friends or parents, can never leave a hole in your heart because who they were and the memories of joy they leave behind not only fill the hole, but overflows it as well. We carry those stories, those memories, and we share their lives with others as the years pass..........and that is true immortality.

My best to you Val....and to you Bill.

Pat